How the Rich are Secretly Handling College

[Anonymous]

Teach your kid a skill that can't be outsourced to places like China or Mexico. There will always be a need for plumbers, electricians, brick masons, and auto mechanics. The electrician next door is probably better off than his lawyer neighbor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teach your kid a skill that can't be outsourced to places like China or Mexico. There will always be a need for plumbers, electricians, brick masons, and auto mechanics. The electrician next door is probably better off than his lawyer neighbor.

I don't see much of the work that symbolic analysts do--which is what people who go to elite colleges are learning how to do--being outsourced to China or Mexico. Strategy, analysis, management... You can easily outsource data crunching, assembly, and repetitive tasks, but you can't run an organization (I don't mean staff an organization, I mean run it) without people who know how to think and to lead and who can set a direction and make decisions. Those are skills, just as plumbing and masonry are skills.

[Anonymous]

good god, not everyone wants to own a business?! gross

[Anonymous]

Wow, this topic brought out the haters. OP, I think you are on to something. Just look at all the postings from people who make $500k but feel poor - almost always because they are paying private schools and fully funding college funds. Personally, I'm throwing up my hands - at my husband and my two teacher salary level, we can't even hope to afford college. And what's the point? Why kill ourselves to pay for four years of messing around? I went to an Ivy and if I had it to do over, would definitely not have put myself in so much debt.

[Anonymous]

OP, are any families in your circle doing Montessori? Seems like the best current education model to develop those unconventional thinking skills.

[Anonymous]

Most business ventures fail. Just so you all know.

I agree with other PPs - the rich can afford for their kids to fail at a startup, college, what have you. The rest of us can't really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most business ventures fail. Just so you all know.

I agree with other PPs - the rich can afford for their kids to fail at a startup, college, what have you. The rest of us can't really.

Most "rich" cannot either unless you are talking about the .001% and not just the 1%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an engineer, I have a hard time imagining STEM fields embracing a whole generation of self-taught individuals who decided to skip school because it wasn't worth $$ to them. I'll agree that I learned mostly theory in school and everything practical afterwards, but employers want to see that I could get into the top-ranked school, pass the courses required to get the degree, maintain a decent GPA, etc. So for all those budding entrepreneurs who can fall back on their parents' wealth, this may very well be an option, but for the future doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc this doesn't seem practical.

+1 Elite colleges will remain a sorting mechanism/credential, if nothing else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If you are truly wealthy, you can afford an unconventional path. Nothing new about that. The rest of us take much bigger risks if we push such options.

This. It's been true for centuries.

+1 The very wealthy at college are having a different experience than the middle class.

Ding! For some, college is a rite of passage. For the rest of us, it's our best shot at a secure, white-collar job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teach your kid a skill that can't be outsourced to places like China or Mexico. There will always be a need for plumbers, electricians, brick masons, and auto mechanics. The electrician next door is probably better off than his lawyer neighbor.

The political elite is way ahead of you on that one. They are bringing in hordes of Third World immigrants to do the jobs that can't be outsourced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most business ventures fail. Just so you all know.

I agree with other PPs - the rich can afford for their kids to fail at a startup, college, what have you. The rest of us can't really.

Most "rich" cannot either unless you are talking about the .001% and not just the 1%.

Yes, they can afford it if their kid still has to live at home and mooch off the parents well into their 20's and some 30's. Wealthy people also have connections, so they'll probably get their kid a job at some company of a friend or business partner if that kid fails at a business venture or out of college. Bonus if the grandparents are wealthy and plan to leave money to the grandkids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do they despise college as an institution?

because as things become more meritocratic, there is less room for their kids.

People always invest in their children as they see fit.

OP - you are from the entrepreneurial class and run with that crowd. Some of us don't really want that lifestyle (not judgment, but I have no knack for it and it would make me anxious). You invest in your children as you see best with the skills you have and the world view you have. Me too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol. New money. Bless your heart.

New money has always ruled this country after forcefully grabbing the reins from Old Money--which gracefully gave it up. Time and time again. Money came to me even though I did not chase it, I was chasing something else. I quit and hit financial rock bottom while I was working the start-up. I am grateful for how things turned out.

I do not hate Old Money. You must be neither. The dirty secret is that Old Money and New Money secretly are fascinated by the other. Always has. You should see the eyes they make at each other at charity balls.

Can you at least address my initial post?

Oh honey. Many of us here have been to countless charity balls, grew up going. Old Money is much less fascinated by the nouveau riche than you would think. If you only knew how we talk at the country club when you arent around...

Oh honey - you have no idea what this thread is about and are not contributing anything intelligent or useful. I'll spell it out for you: it's about education. Go brag about your "old money" somewhere else - maybe on those threads complaining that the Kennedys ARE NOT OLD MONEY!! (You probably start those.)

Oh honey. OP is the one who started the "old money" discussion. If you cant take the heat, don't place yourself in the frying pan!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Option 1: OP is a multimillionaire tech entrepreneur who spends His free time posting "the education secrets of the smart wealthy" on DCUM.

Option 2: OP is a bored high school student who has seen a few episodes of Silicon Valley and read an online article about Peter Thiel's scholarship program

I vote Option 2.

x2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do they despise college as an institution?

Typical Silcon Valley BS. They despise all of the instituions (education, government, religion, whatever) and are sure that they can do it better because they are really smart. It doesn't occur to them that there are really smart people outside of Silcon Valley, too.